Euro 2012: Stand by for thrills as Spain offer rivals hope

A gripping tournament now seeks its answer: are Germany the new Spain? The
world and European champions begin the real defence of the title they won in
Vienna four years ago in Wednesday night’s Iberian derby with Cristiano
Ronaldo intending to end their cycle of dominance.

Pass master: Spain's Xabi Alonso says the semi-finalists are there on meritPhoto: EPA

As the head of Russia’s FA was resigning after a meeting with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin - “I have decided to step down,” he said, as if he was offered the choice - and England were reflecting on the inadequacy of their passing game, this European Championship was boiling down to its finest ingredients.

Portugal v Spain and Germany v Italy are distillations of the best attacking talent on show in Poland and Ukraine. Holland might have contested that description before they peppered the stands with shots; and France were meant to be on an upswing. But the truth is that the top four worthy heavyweights at Euro 2012have advanced on Donetsk and Warsaw with dreams of reaching Sunday’s final in Kiev.

“The four sides who have reached the semis are excellent,” said Spain’s Xabi Alonso. “They’ve performed well to get this far and the games have been really entertaining. The best thing is that each of the remaining teams wants to win the ball, dominate possession and to use it to attack. We all deserve to have come this far.”

Well said. And Anglocentric eyes are bound to read that as implied criticism of England’s poor ball retention and inability to attack convincingly, which largely reflected the paucity of talent available to Roy Hodgson.

At least the Chelsea obsession is dead. With these four gracing the semi-finals, we can finally stop listening to people saying Chelsea’s Champions League win reinvented the game. It was just logical opportunism.

Even Italy are trying to rewrite a culture. Their coach, Cesare Prandelli, says: “We can play progressive football. As long as we try to take the initiative we are a good side. We become a side with a thousand fears if we try to protect a lead.”

He calls the fall-back reflex Italy’s “gut instinct” and his mission is to make them play more assertively. Germany, with their counter-attacking zest and midfield power, will test those high ideals to the limit tomorrow.

The surprise of this tournament is that so many teams and players have thrown themselves into the fray rather than surrender to jaundice or fatigue. International football looked to be fighting for its life at the South Africa World Cup, where the glamour and intensity of the Champions League seemed to suppress the superstar appetite for sport between nations.

Unexpectedly the international game has come roaring back, perhaps because Germany, Italy and Portugal all sense vulnerability in Spain, whose tiki-taka religion has cried out some nights for a bit more execution and a little less exhibition.

This week Germany’s Thomas Müller was asked if Spain are still ahead of his country. “Well, they are in the Fifa world ranking,” he replied. Then: “I think the best way to answer that question is a direct, head-to-head encounter, but the truth is we lost the past two games against Spain, while we beat Portugal in the group match.

“Frankly, it doesn’t really matter. I’ve heard people talk about ‘revenge’ or ‘settling old scores with Spain’, but that doesn’t come into it at all. We’re here to win a final, no matter who you play against. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First we need to beat Italy, and once we’ve accomplished that, there will be no stopping us.”

In Spain by all accounts people think the defending champions are the Barcelona of the international game while Portugal are the Real Madrid, with their long diagonal passes to the marauding forwards, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani. Ronaldo, Pepe and Fábio Coentrão are Portugal’s Madridista core; on the opposite side of Iberia, Jose Mourinho’s men have challenged Barcelona’s dominance in the national side, with Alonso, Iker Casillas, Álvaro Arbeloa and Sergio Ramos bolstered by their victory in La Liga.

But the heart remains Catalan. Xavi Hernandez now holds the record for passes completed at a European Championship: 734. Spain have won 41 of their last 47 competitive matches. Twelve members of their winning Euro 2008 squad are on duty again.

Not since West Germany in the 1970s, though, has a side reached three successive finals. Spain’s aura no longer dazzles and intimidates to the extent it did two years ago, when Barcelona’s artistes threatened to take the game to a place where no one else could touch it. The other three semi-finalists here are no longer frightened of the great Spanish manifesto.